Who Can Coordinate?

The federal statutes require that coordination be between the federal agency and any “local unit of government.” These normally include counties, incorporated cities, water and school districts, or any legislatively, statutorily-created government entity with local planning, taxing, enforcement, or regulatory authority whose board members are elected by the public.

For local government to force coordination with state agencies, state statutes must have the required language (could simply be the one word “coordinate”). If there is state statutory language, then a local unit of government could possibly have two different approaches for coordination – a federal approach and a state approach that can often be used in tandem with one another.

It is important to research your state statutes to determine if the entity you would have coordinate is considered a local unit of government.